Selecting an Optimal Faraday Cage To Minimize Noise in Electrochemical Experiments.

The ubiquitous Faraday cage, an experimental component particularly essential for nanoelectrochemical measurements, is responsible for neutralizing noise introduced by electromagnetic interference (EMI). Faraday cage designs abound in the literature, often exhibiting varying thicknesses, mesh sizes, and base materials. The fact that the Faraday cage composition most often goes unreported underscores the fact that many electrochemical researchers assume a 100% EMI reduction for any given design.

ACEstat: A DIY Guide to Unlocking the Potential of Integrated Circuit Potentiostats for Open-Source Electrochemical Analysis.

Miniaturization of analytical instrumentation is paramount to enabling convenient in-field sensing. The recent thrust in potentiostat miniaturization for electrochemical sensing and general use has led to the development of commercial application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that pack all the power of a benchtop instrument into one 5 mm × 5 mm chip. While the capabilities of these integrated circuits far exceed those of open-source potentiostats in the literature, the activation barrier for their implementation requires extensive electrical and software engineering expertise to overcome.

A Generalized Potentiostat Adaptor for Multiplexed Electroanalysis.

Electrochemical measurements over an array of electrodes may be accomplished with one of three potentiostat architectures: a single-channel device which averages the signal from a number of interconnected electrodes, a multichannel device with dedicated circuits for each electrode, or a single-channel device with a multiplexer interface to isolate the signal from specific electrodes. Of these three architectures, the use of a multiplexer interface is best suited to facilitate measurements over individual electrodes without the need for large numbers of dedicated potentiostat channels. We present a versatile strategy for the development of flexible printed circuit (FPC) electrode arrays with accompanying multiplexing hardware to interface with single-channel potentiostats.

In Situ Preconcentration and Quantification of Cu via Chelating Polymer-Wrapped Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes.

Trace analysis of heavy metals in complex, environmentally relevant matrices remains a significant challenge for electrochemical sensors employing stripping voltammetry-based detection schemes. We present an alternative method capable of selectively preconcentrating Cu ions at the electrode surface using chelating polymer-wrapped multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). An electrochemical sensor consisting of poly-4-vinyl pyridine (P4VP)-wrapped MWCNTs anchored to a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)-modified gold electrode ( = 1.

Instrumenting (Paddlefish) Rostra in Flowing Water with Strain Gages and Accelerometers.

The prominent rostrum of the North American Paddlefish, supported by a lattice-like endoskeleton, is highly durable, making it an important candidate for bio-inspiration studies. Energy dissipation and load-bearing capacity of the structure from extreme physical force has been demonstrated superior to that of man-made systems, but response to continuous hydraulic forces is unknown and requires special instrumentation for in vivo testing on a live fish. A single supply strain gage amplifier circuit has been combined with a digital three-axis accelerometer, implemented in a printed circuit board (PCB), and integrated with the commercial-off-the-shelf Adafruit Feather M0 datalogger with a microSD card.

Preparation and Characterization of Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane-Containing, Titania-Thiol-Ene Composite Photocatalytic Coatings, Emphasizing the Hydrophobic-Hydrophilic Transition.

Coatings prepared from titania-thiol-ene compositions were found to be both self-cleaning, as measured by changes in water contact angle, and photocatalytic toward the degradation of an organic dye. Stable titania-thiol-ene dispersions at approximately 2 wt % solids were prepared using a combination of high-shear mixing and sonication in acetone solvent from photocatalytic titania, trisilanol isobutyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) dispersant, and select thiol-ene monomers, i.e.